There won’t be an undefeated team or a winless team at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Sweden came into Monday’s game against the United States in Boston with nothing to play for after Canada beat Finland in regulation time earlier in the day and punched their ticket to the Championship Game on Thursday.
After dropping games to Canada and Finland in overtime, Sweden wrapped up their tournament with a 2-1 win over the United States. Gustav Nyquist and Jesper Bratt scored for Sweden and goaltender Samuel Ersson stopped 31 of 32 shots in the win.
The American team was playing shorthanded after clinching their spot in Thursday’s Championship Game with a regulation win over Canada on Saturday. Winger Matthew Tkachuk was out of the lineup because of a lower-body injury and captain Auston Matthews was out for rest as he deals with an illness. Brady Tkachuk also left the game in the first period after falling into Sweden’s net.
The United States opened the scoring against Sweden just 35 seconds into the game as Chris Kreider crashed the net and buried a rebound past Ersson. Later in the frame, Sweden got the tying goal from Gustav Nyquist on what looked like an innocent pass from the half-wall.
It looked like the two teams were going to head into the first intermission tied at 1-1 but Sweden put another goal on the board before the end of the frame. William Nylander found Jasper Bratt alone in the high slot and the winger from the New Jersey Devils roofed a shot to make the score 2-1 for Sweden.
The Americans threw 12 shots on goal in the third period and had a handful of quality scoring chances but they couldn’t get anything else past Ersson. After Filip Gustavsson and Linus Ullmark combined to allow eight goals on 49 shots, third-stringer Ersson posted a .970 save percentage in Sweden’s lone win.
Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars got the start for the United States while Connor Hellebuyck was off to rest ahead of Thursday’s finale. Oettinger was solid for the Americans, stopping 21 of 23 shots in the loss. Hellebuyck has a .957 save percentage through two wins over Finland and Canada.